A Zutara Christmas
by Yemoya
Summary: AU. One-shot: Zuko runs away on Christmas Eve, because Ozai is a bad father. Looking for him Sokka develops a genius plan, Toph wants to help Zuko hiding, Aang wants to get to the core of the problem, and Katara desperately tries to find her crush. Unbeknownst to her, Zuko would certainly not mind being found by the Painted Lady.


_Hi everyone, _

_I know I'm late for Christmas, but this took me longer than I thought. _

_This Zutara one shot is inspired by another pretty popular animated series, even by the plot of their Christmas episode. (But there won't be singing here.)_

_Please enjoy reading and let me know what you think!:)_

* * *

Christmas this year is going to be Zuko's first Christmas without his mother.

He is very much afraid of it, knowing that this year he won't get the hand knitted socks she did for him since he had been little. They annoyed him in the last years, since they are so childish, but he'd rather wear childish socks all his life than having to live through a Christmas without his mother.

Kasaishi Ozai is not one who is known for his caring heart or open ear, so Zuko is sure that he has to work his feelings out all on his own.

School ended three days ago, and Zuko hasn't had the courage to talk to his best friend Sokka about his problem. He is sure his friend would be able to cheer him up, but talking about fears and negative feelings isn't easy for Zuko. He always feels uncomfortable, and he also doesn't want anyone to think of his father in a bad way.

At this evening Ezoola, his father's assistant, has brought him to the dining room, where a goose dinner has waited for him. Ezoola told him to wait for his father, since he would shortly come to join him.

Zuko waited. And waited. And is still waiting.

But it is the same as it has been all year. His father never shows up.

What's he doing wrong? He tries all the time not to give his father a hard time, not to make him worry, and to ease the hurt of the loss of his mother a bit. But that is, apparently, not enough. Maybe Zuko is just not enough.

Clenching his fists he finally stands, and walks towards the entrance door.

"Zuko, your father...," starts Ezoola.

"Isn't coming. Thanks for setting this up, anyway," he murmurs and leaves the room.

Walking up the ridiculously broad marble stairs, he glares at everything in this house that shows wealth. He rather live in a tiny apartment like Sokka, but be loved by his parents.

But Azula... she has got it all. She lives in a grand suite, a penthouse of the hotel her father owns, who also gifts and spoils her way too much. How does she do that? She probably scares her father into gifting her all those expensive things.

Zuko has to stop himself from chuckling. He is in a bad mood, but Azula has always known how to cheer him up, too. She is not a very nice person sometimes, but she knows him very well.

Back in his room he lets himself fall on his couch, staring at his plasma screen. He needs to do something to stop brooding. It's not doing him any good.

"Hey, are you all right?" the tiny spirit asks, soaring in front of his face. Buryu's fangs are less visible, which means he's not in a good mood.

Zuko opens an eye. "Does it look like it?"

Buryu blinks, his eye lids hiding his large black eyes for a second. "No, you look like crap. Want some tuna?"

Zuko rolls his eyes. "No, I do not. Normal people don't inhale tuna, Buryu."

"Well, then it's good that I'm not a person," he says with a very unpersonish voice. Buryu's voice is that of a male adult, but higher and slightly husky. Sometimes Zuko thinks it could be a child's voice, but it is too full to be that. More like a cartoon cat's voice or something like that.

"Your Dad?" Buryu asks, temporarily forgetting about tuna and nudging Zuko's cheek affectionately. He even sounds, as though he would worry.

Although he appreciates Buryu's attempt to make him feel better, he can only sigh. What is there that he can do? Just endure this horrible Christmas, without a visit from Azula, without Christmas songs and his mother reading _A Christmas Carol_ to him? No hot chocolate, no cookies, no games?

"I have to get out of here," he murmurs, running a hand through his hair, until he catches the tiny braid and the band. "Buryu, swords out!"

oOo

"Presents!" Katara hisses at Sokka, leaning forward, narrowing her eyes.

"Food!" Sokka hisses back, his stomach grumbling in agreement.

"The food won't go anywhere!" Katara yells, stemming her hands on her hips.

"Neither will the presents!"

"Hm-hm!"

Katara whips her head around to glare at whoever dares to interrupt their fight.

Her grandmother stands at the entrance to the kitchen. "Kids, you know the rule. We had presents first last year, so there'll be food first this year," she says, an amused smile on her lips.

Sokka whoos, and Katara groans, letting her head fall. "Gran Gran!" she whines.

Sokka cackles. "You're such a bad loser."

"Am not."

"Are too." Sokka starts ignoring her after that, because their father comes in, in his hands the pig chicken roast.

Katara rolls her eyes, but follows the rest of her family to the table, where pumpkin mash, green beans, and red cabbage follow as side dishes.

Gran Gran seems amused by her grandchildren's antics, and Katara decides to stop pouting. It's Christmas, after all, and Sokka's right, the presents won't go anywhere. But that doesn't mean that he has to stuff his mouth like that. Urgh!

"Sokka," Kanna warns. "Slow down. You'll get sick."

"I can't get sick of food. It's against physical law," he answers, his mouth stuffed.

Hakoda doesn't seem to be bothered too much, but that's mainly because his own manners aren't the best either.

"This is delicious," Katara says to her grandmother, smiling. "It's juicy, not dry at all."

Sokka nods enthusiastically.

"Thank you. But your pumpkin mash is good as well," Kanna says, her eyes smiling and glowing with pride.

Katara beams. Of course it is, she has put much effort into it, after all.

"Yep, it's a very great Christmas dinner. The best we ever had, I'd say," Hakoda says, loud with his booming voice.

"We eat the same things every year, Dad!" Katara objects.

"And it gets more delicious every year, because we all get better at this. Sokka's green beans aren't as bad as last year, for example."

"Hey!" Sokka yells.

"That's because _I _told him to wrap them in bacon. He cannot fry bacon the wrong way," Katara explains, feeling a bit annoyed that her brother gets praised for something she told him to do. Sokka wouldn't even help with the cooking, if he weren't forced to.

"And that's how everyone of us worked hard to have this Christmas dinner!" Kanna says, suddenly sounding sterner than usual. It's her "one-more-complaint-and-there'll-be-consequences"-voice.

"You are so right, Gran Gran." Katara hopes to have her appeased like that, because she really doesn't want to miss on her presents later.

She tenses, when Sokka leans in and whispers "Crawler!".

oOo

"Aaaaaaaang! Come downstairs! There's desserts!"

"Coming!" he shouts back.

Why does he always have to be interrupted in such an important moment?

He tries to quickly finish her leg, and then leans back to study his drawing. Hm, something's not totally right.

Maybe it's his superhero costume. It kind of looks dumb, childish. Why did he choose orange and yellow colours? It looks so... happy and not dangerous at all!

Blowing up his cheeks, he contemplates, but that's the kind of superhero he wants to be. He doesn't want to look spooky like Blue Spirit, but nice and funny, so that people will know he's there to help. The bad guys won't be afraid of him that way, but that's okay. He'll have his superpowers to make up for that.

All in all, the drawing does look good. Probably his best of Katara, anyway.

If he could just really rescue her from villains! Then she would clearly fall in love with him. But... he wouldn't be brave enough to do that.

"What on earth is taking you so long?" a rather welcome voice asks, accompanied by the sound of a fist banging on his door.

Aang jumps up, knowing she won't bother to wait for him to tell her to come in, and quickly tries to hide his drawings, but then...

Yeah, right.

She cannot see them.

He almost face palms. He knows her now since kindergarten, and he still forgets sometimes that she is blind!

Toph walks in, her steps are long and confident. Her arms are crossed in front of her chest. "Your mum starts to get on everyone's nerves. You know how easily she freaks, when you're not doing what she wants to."

Suddenly he feels very bad, and sheepishly pushes his foot against the carpet. "I know, I'm sorry."

"Just come downstairs, then she'll stop it. What were you doing anyway?" she asks, her nose wrinkling.

"Uh... just some drawing?" Aang answers, but feels embarrassed, even though she doesn't know what he had drawn.

Toph only raises her eyebrow. "Okay. Would you leave your room now, Twinkletoes?"

"Uh... Sure, yeah," he yelps, running towards the stairs.

"You could just ask her out, you know," Toph suddenly says.

Aang whirls around. "What?"

His best friend's lips are spread in a wicked grin, one of her most often facial expressions. "You heard me, Twinkletoes."

His cheeks warm up. Dammit, how does she know?

"Aang!" His mother runs towards him, grabs his wrist, and pulls him towards the living room. "Now sit down! There'll be dessert with the Bei Fongs as every year," she hisses and sits him down on the sofa, shoving a bowl of hot fruit pie into his hands.

He nods with wide eyes. "I know. Sorry Mum. I got distracted."

Toph starts to cackle loudly, and everyone stares at her.

"Toph!" her elder brother, Zei, hisses, and shoves his elbow into her rips, only gently.

Her reply isn't that gently.

Lao and Poppy Bei Fong don't seem happy with their daughter's unladylike laughter, but they gave up making a lady out of her years ago.

Aang still feels very embarrassed that Toph knows about his biggest secret, but he also feels slightly better, now that everyone is directing their attention at his best friend.

oOo

"Li, go fetch Dad's present!" Azula orders, snapping her fingers, while checking her Instagram account.

What? The last selfie only got two thousand likes?

Growling she tries to figure out who hasn't liked it yet.

Her father stands in front of her next to the Christmas tree, a rather hopeless expression on his face.

"But I am Lo, Li isn't here today," the stern woman says slowly.

"I don't care. Bringt it here, so we can get over this! I want to open my presents, after all," she snarls, her fingers almost crushing her phone.

"Darling, sweety. It's okay. You can open your presents. Just give me mine another day, okay?"

Putting her phone into her pocket, Azula turns around, smiling at her father. "Aw, that's so sweet of you! I hope I got the new diamond mobile phone case I wanted!" she says, kneeling down to grab the present next to her.

She doesn't see the sweat breaking out on her father's forehead, and how he quickly pulls out his phone to check what he bought for her. With over fourty presents one can forget one of them, after all.

oOo

Humming, Katara congratulates herself again what a genius hiding spot that was. None of them found their present here, because they all are afraid of heights. Therefore the balcony was the best place for hiding their presents!

She removes the plastic cover and finds them under it, still the way she put them here days ago.

"Hey!" she suddenly hears a very familiar voice behind her.

Whirling around, she automatically wants to hide the presents, but... It is no one of her family.

"Blue Spirit!" she exclaims, feeling pretty surprised. "H-hi."

He's sitting on the handrail of her balcony, one leg bent, his head cocked to the side.

"Why aren't you inside, celebrating Christmas with your family?" he asks, as if he were worried.

Katara smiles. "I just came up to get their presents," she explains. "You don't have to worry, everyone of us will be perfectly happy for the whole evening!"

He smiles and nods. "Good. I'm relieved."

"What are you doing out here?" she asks back, knowing that she had told him there would be no need for patrolling on Christmas Eve. If something bad would happen, they always could find out through their phones.

"I... I'm just... checking the city is safe," he says evasively.

She narrows her yes at him. "You're not on patrol, are you?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"What?" she shrieks. "But I..." She almost tells him the truth, when she takes a deep breath to stop herself from doing that. "... I cannot believe Painted Lady let's you work on Christmas Eve. You should be home with your family!"

He quickly shakes his head, white hair flying around, surrounding his head like a halo. It looks strange with his blue skin and demonic black eyes, not to mention his razor sharp fangs. "No, Painted Lady didn't tell me to work tonight. And... there's not anything at home I'm missing."

She's happy about what he said about Painted Lady, but the other thing seems to be very sad. "Why? Aren't you eating and giving presents to each other?"

He opens his mouth, but then he shakes his head. "I don't want to hinder you from celebrating with your family," he says, pulling his one leg up, sitting on his feet, and ready to leave again.

"Blue, wait!" She cries.

He turns around.

"Please. Don't spend Christmas Eve like that. You can come downstairs with me and celebrate with my family. I'm going to need a strong person to help me carry all those presents downstairs. And we still got some pig chicken roast and there'll be mochis for dessert!" she sings, hoping to reach his stomach, and gallantry if not his reason.

For a moment he seems to contemplate the offer, but then her phone ringing cuts through the night. "Urgh, just a sec," she says, raising a finger and fishing her phone out of her skirt's pocket. It's Suki.

Katara looks up again, seeing Blue seeming to want to leave. "Don't! Go! Wait! Stay!" she orders, and he relents, sliding down the handrail onto the floor, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "If you want you can already bring this downstairs," she says, shoving Hakoda's present into his lap.

He raises an eyebrow, but nods and moves towards the trapdoor.

She has to smile, knowing this will be an unforgettable Christmas Eve. Blue Spirit will celebrate with her family! Of course, it's not a big deal for her, since she knows him really well, but everyone at school? Maybe even Zuko will be impressed.

Grinning shortly she presses onto the green button. "Suki?"

"Katara, girl, why are you answering so late?"

"Uh..."

"Stop! I have really bad news!"

Her eyes widen. "Oh no, what happened? Are you okay? Your sisters?"

"Yeah yeah, we're fine. It's about Zuko," Suki quickly explains.

Katara's heart stops beating for a moment. "Zuko?" she whispers.

"He's gone!" Suki exclaims. "He disappeared. Kasaishi Ozai is calling all his classmates to help with the search!"

"Disappeared?" Katara repeats, still not comprehending what has just happened.

"Yes!"

Resolve suddenly fills her heart, and she clenches her hands to fists, her gaze hardening. "Okay. Thanks for telling me. Of course, I'll join the search. I'll find him!" she yells confidently.

Suki is quiet for a moment. "Riiiiight. Anyway, I'll call you when I hear something new."

"Katara!" Sokka yells from downstairs.

"Me, too. Bye!" she ends the phone call and races down the stairs, where Blue Spirit is standing in the middle of the living room, still holding Hakoda's present, and Hakoda looking him up and down.

"Katara!" he says, when she enters the room. "You didn't tell us we'd have a visitor tonight."

Kanna raises one corner of her mouth, walks up to Blue, and takes the present from him. "That's quite interesting! Who can say they celebrated Christmas with Blue Spirit? You're always welcome here, Blue. And besides, the more, the merrier, right?"

Hakoda's frown deepens.

Gran Gran normally isn't that friendly to strangers, which surprises Katara pretty much. She also was never impressed by Blue Spirit or Painted Lady, only talking about the Avatar who had been there to save the people back in the day. To Katara this is just a myth, an old legend of the same truth as the legend of King Arthur.

Guilt starts to gnaw at Katara's heart when she looks at Blue, who started to smile at what her grandmother said.

"I'm sorry, but we can't celebrate!" she blurts out.

"What?" Sokka asks, coming closer.

"Suki just called. Apparently Zuko disappeared and his father lets the whole city search for him!"

Sokka frowns. "And he calls Suki before me? I'm his best friend!" he objects, sounding very offended.

Katara shrugs. "Buf Kasaishi doesn't like you."

Sokka rolls his eyes.

Blue Spirit clears his throat. "Okay, well, I'm going to look for him. He's going to be found more easily, when someone is looking from above." He nods to himself. "Yep."

"Thanks, Blue!" Katara smiles at him. "Your help means a lot."

He blinks, his eyes wider than usual. "No problem. Don't worry. I'll find your friend in no time. And I'll ask Painted Lady to help," he adds, grinning.

Katara could face palm. Great. Now she has to find a way to sneak away from her family even earlier.

oOo

"This is so dumb. How could I find Zuko? I'm blind!" Toph exclaims, huffing.

"Would you rather drive home with your parents?" Aang asks, slightly amused.

She huffs again. "Of course not."

"Plus, you're keeping me company," he adds.

"Jeez, I'm glad to be of service," Toph groans.

"Why do you think Zuko ran away?" Aang asks, looking more closely into a dark alley between two houses.

"He won't hide in there," Toph says.

Aang turns around. "How could you know?"

"It smells of narrow dumpster alleyway. Come on, Aang. You think Kasaishi Zuko would even go near that place?"

He has to admit she's right. "But people will recognise him if he goes into a hotel, or something the like."

"It has to be a warm, clean place, where people are either not educated enough to know him, or where there's so many people no one will even see him," Toph proposes.

"The mall!" Aang shouts, changing directions.

Toph, who's holding onto his arm, lets a slight squeak escape her mouth.

Aang grins.

"Because of his father," she says after a while. "That's such a stuck-up asshole, who didn't even want to let Zuko celebrate his birthday. I'm actually not surprised Zuko finally left. I would have left ages ago!"

"Yeah..."

"Hey, let's find Zuko, give him money and a plan to hide, and then pretend we never found him!" Toph sounds excited, as she pulls at his arm.

He frowns. "We can't do that. His father might not be the nicest person, but he still loves his son. And Zuko needs his family. And he's a minor. You can help him escape when he's eighteen and graduated from school."

A sharp elbow finds his rips. He gasps. Damn, Toph's stronger when she's pissed.

"You're no fun!" she pouts.

oOo

Feeling more annoyed and anxious with every second that passes without a sign of Zuko, Azula quickly dials her father's number. "Daddy!"

"Yes, darling?"

"No one has heard a word from him yet. We need more people searching!" she commands, staring out of the car. She already saw some of her classmates searching the city for Zuko from the car, but there had been no trace of Zuko at all.

"But I already have half the police and all my employees sent out!" her father objects.

"Then send out all the police, the army, the Dai Li, airships, balloons! Blue Spirit and Painted Lady cannot be the only ones looking from above!" she snaps.

"But, darling, I cannot order the army to look for a runaway teenager!"

"But he's my best friend! Daddy!" she tries her best little girl voice, something which always works on her father. Then she tries to let her voice sound as if she were about to cry. "What am I going to do without him? I'm nobody without him, and there won't be any sense in life anymore!"

"Okay, okay, I'll call General Fong."

"Oh, Daddy, thank you! You are the best!" Smirking Azula ends the phone call.

oOo

Sokka has a plan. He always has.

And now that his best buddy went missing his plan has to be the best he ever had. And Sokka had a lot of good plans. It won't be easy to come up with a better one.

Finding out when exactly Zuko had disappeared proved to be impossible, since there's apparently no one left at the Kasaishi manor who could answer the phone to answer his question. Which he should have figured. Of course, they are all out to look for Zuko.

But going back to the place of the crime is always a good start, so he convinces his father to drive to Zuko's house. It hasn't snowed until just two minutes ago, but Sokka can still not find any footprints leading away from Zuko's window or away from any other window in the house, because it is obvious that Zuko wouldn't take the front door. Besides, the only tracks coming from the gate are of two cars. And Zuko definitely cannot drive. He'd know that. He's his best friend, after all.

That only leaves two options. Either Zuko climbed up the roof top and jumped onto their neighbour's roof, or he escaped through a basement, and is currently in the tunnels or the underground under Ba Sing Se. Looking up to take all the ancient proud heritage of the house in, Sokka feels more assured that this house would have a way to get into the tunnels.

But Zuko is also very sportive, and would probably know how to jump from one roof top to the next. Fortunately, the gap between the neighbour's roofs and the Kasaishi's roof is far too wide for any human being to cross it.

Sokka will have to start his investigation underground. He thinks that the next underground station will do. But he should not forget that Zuko might have changed his way of moving along the route and made Ba Sing Se's roofs to his new parkour court. Then again, Zuko would probably not even think about that, since he's not that much of a plan guy.

Hakoda agrees to drive around the manor in bigger getting circles.

Katara says she has to go to the bathroom.

Seriously? Now? In the middle of an investigation? And while his best buddy is missing, of course?

Well, who can still really rely on a little sister? He doesn't know such a person, anyway.

Back to the plan. He still needs to know when Zuko disappeared. And there's only one other person he knows who will definitely know. She would have been the only one to check the time and work out where the possibilities of Zuko being there would shrink after calculating a bit with time and space.

Suki.

Giving the Kasaishi manor a flat look he gives into his fate, and clicks onto her contact on his phone's screen. Her contact hasn't even got a picture.

He hasn't really got anything against her, but she's very… confident, and doesn't hesitate to put him in his place. Sometimes she's ordering him around and she's obsessed with Painted Lady. That's kind of annoying. Plus, she's his little sister's best friend, and therefore always on Katara's side, which bothers him, too. He would like to see her only once agreeing with him, or smile at him, or…

"Sokka?"

His eyes widen a bit. "Uh, yeah, hi Suki. I just wanted to ask you if you know the exact time Zuko disappeared?"

"Yes, I do."

Waiting, he tries to force a piece of pig chicken out from between his teeth with his tongue. When she's still not answering, he starts to glare at the manor. "And will you tell me that time?"

She ends the call.

Only hearing _toot_, he blinks, feeling way too surprised and shocked to be actually pissed.

"It was twenty minutes past seven when Kasaishi called," he hears her saying.

Didn't she end the…?

At the same time he realises the difference of voice quality and turns around, seeing her standing behind him. Her short hair is completely covered by a hood, which makes her look a little like a boy. Her face still looks pretty, of course, and the coat isn't hiding any feminine curves, but… that short hair… It's just something women from the Water Province don't wear.

"Oh, okay. Hi, uh, Suki. Thanks. For telling me," he stammers, wondering why he does, but he only tenses when she narrows her eyes at him.

Maybe that's one of the reasons he doesn't like being around her, too. Sometimes she frightens him. And being frightened by a girl is a very unmanly thing to be, so he rather completely misses on her presence.

She's nodding slowly. "Yep. No problem. Wanna search together?"

He nods. "I think he went east. To the nicer part of the lower ring."

A smile pulls on Suki's lips, making her pretty features even softer. "I thought the same thing."

oOo

It is hard to keep thinking straight.

Katara is on a mission, and she needs to keep a level head then, but Zuko always makes her feel like her mind is just a cabbage cart. Instead of thinking rationally, she first runs over the whole city, looking into every alleyway, dunster, and underground station she can find.

Where on earth is this guy?

Before she used an excuse to get away from Sokka, he hadn't been able to tell her anythjng about Zuko, either. What use is it that Sokka is his best friend, when he doesn't even know, where Zuko would go, when he wants to run away?

But Sokka still has got a quick mind, and has come up with other logical explanations. Zuko would need to get to some place warm. A place where no one would recognise him.

And Katara knows she is going to be faster than anyone else on her way to the lower ring.

She again dials Blue's number on her umbrella phone, but again he doesn't answer.

"Hello, Milady, I'm sorry I can't be of service right now. Try again later," his voice says, making Katara huff in annoyance.

Of course this stupid sword wielding demon won't respond, when it is actually important. Didn't he say he would look for Zuko? What was he doing? Where could he be that he has got no net! Or where he cannot hear his phone ring or feel it vibrate?

Closer to the wall to the lower ring Katara jumps from the roof and puts up her umbrella. She hasn't flown over the wall very often, and normally Blue Spirit is always with her, and that's probably why she doesn't feel at ease one bit. Hanging onto her umbrella she keeps staring straight forward, not daring to look down.

Once she is on the other side, everything seems different. The air smells of old food and urin, fires are lit all over the lower ring, and the houses are all smaller and narrower than in the middle, let alone upper ring.

She hates how mayor Long Feng is exploiting the lower classes, only to build all his luxury temples, malls, and hotels in the upper ring.

When her feet finally touch a rooftop again, Katara sighs, closes her umbrella and decides to call Blue Spirit again.

He doesn't answer. Again.

What? Doesn't he listen to the news? Or doesn't he care, when one of the most famous teenagers in Ba Sing Se just disappears? Maybe he is not a fan of Zuko's, but then again that seems odd. He fights with swords, after all. He definitely is into martial arts, so he also has to be into martial arts films.

It doesn't matter now. She has to find Zuko and bring him back. With or without Blue Spirit's help.

oOo

Zuko is pouting. And scowling at the tall Christmas tree near the firelight fountain.

All he has wanted was to spend a calm evening away from home, being angry for a while, and then when the evening was supposed to really get better... His father had to interrupt again.

Why is he even searching for him? It's not like he cares.

But Zuko also understands that he is behaving like a child. What will it bring him to run, now that his father knows he is gone?

But to return home on it's own? Uh-huh. Not going to happen.

He sees a shadow coming closer, and tenses a bit to be ready to run or fight, whoever this is. The lower ring isn't the safest place, not even at Christmas.

The shadow belongs to an old, fat man with a bushy grey beard. His face seems gentle, and there is something about him that seems familiar.

The man wears a red balaclava with a white bobble on top, and his tight coat, which isn't even closed, has a dark red colour. Has this old man really tried to dress himself like Santa?

He comes closer, and Zuko keeps staring at him, warily.

"Hello there," the man says clearly, in a friendly tone. "Young man, this is not a place for you to be. Especially not on a day like this!"

Zuko nods slowly. "Yeah, I know. It's Christmas. Family. Dinner. Presents."

The man raises his grey eyebrows. "Actually, I was talking about the weather. You will catch a cold here."

Zuko snorts. "It doesn't matter. Someone will find me soon and then I'm off to home again." Even though home is just an empty word now to him.

The man stands up, and takes his coat off, laying it on Zuko's shoulders.

He tenses, and whirls his head around, feeling astonished. Then he also got the balaclava on his head.

"There," the old man says, smiling warmly. Now Zuko can see that he has not much hair left on his head.

"Now you'll be cold," Zuko objects, trying to put off the coat. "I can take it, you should really pay more attention to your healthy regarding your age."

The man stops Zuko's attempts at getting out of the coat, and barks a bellowing laugh. It doesn't sound like the trademark Santa Clause laugh, but it is just as honest and warm.

"You're probably right. I am old. But my house is not far, so I won't be cold for long."

Zuko frowns. "You will, if you don't go home now."

"Probably." He shrugs and stretches a bit, groaning as if his old bones hurt too much. "I'll be right back," he says, and despite all the shittyness of the evening Zuko believes him.

The old man has something about him that just makes comfortable and good. He seems like a grandpa, maybe.

Pressing his lips together Zuko contemplates about his situation again. It is so typical for him to end up in stupid situations.

He doesn't even have his phone with him, so he cannot call anyone. But this way his father won't find him either. He wishes it would be Painted Lady finding him. But then again, she probably doesn't even know that he is missing.

Sighing he lets his head fall down.

After a while he tugs the old man's coat tighter around him. Ba Sing Se winters are quite cold, and it even snows!

The old man comes back, wearing a green coat and a brown balaclava. In his hands he carries a thermos flask.

Zuko raises an eyebrow. "Is that hot chocolate?"

The man chuckles, before he sits down next to Zuko. "No. It's tea. Jasmine, which is friendly and calming."

Blinking Zuko has to smile. This man seems to cling to the old ways, which he likes.

The man fills them two small porcelaine cups full of the hot liquid. Thanking the man Zuko takes the cup from him, and warms his hands on it.

They sit there in silence, staring at the Christmas tree, while the snow is falling slowly around them.

"You don't have to keep me company, you know," Zuko says after a while, feeling bad for keeping the old man out of his own house. "You surely have something else to do on Christmas Eve."

"Hm, I have an invitation from an old friend, but I'm sure he won't mind if I'll show up later."

Confusion fills Zuko, as he frowns. "Don't you have a family at your house?" He doesn't know why he's asking that. He normally doesn't want to know a lot about strangers. But he could swear he had seen this man before.

"Not at my house, no. My wife and son died a few years ago," he sighed.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Zuko answered. "My mother left us at the beginning of the year, and my father... He changed after that, and Christmas without her... I didn't want to celebrate it," he admits huskily, hugging his legs close and staring at the cup of tea.

"I understand," the old man said. "I see why you couldn't stay at home. But don't you think your father worries for you?"

Zuko's expression quickly changes into a scowl. "If he would, then he would have showed up to dinner tonight. He let his assistant buy Christmas presents for me! And... And he barely lets me out of the house, although I do anything to please him! I'm never good enough..." He has no idea why all of this came out just now, and he feels partly ashamed of having told his life so easily.

"Drink up the tea," the old man says, his voice full of compassion. "It'll warm you."

Zuko relented and almost burnt his tongue, but he didn't show it.

"We both know that your father's behaviour towards you is not correct," the man pointed out. "But do you really think you'll help the situation this way? By running away? What if you'll get just more confinements afterwards?" His voice sounds soft, trying to soften the impact of the words he just said.

Zuko feels himself tensing up, and takes a sip of the tea again. It's cooling down quite fast now.

"I didn't think about helping or changing the situation when I ran away. I just wanted to get out. I didn't want to stay there anymore." He lets his shoulders slump. "But you're probably right."

"You know, I see it the way that your father is a very loyal person. Of course, it is not a good thing to keep away from you, since you clearly miss your mother as much as he does, but don't think this is about you. I'm sure your father is aware of what a good son you are, and loves you dearly. He seems to be very protective, which is understandable. But if you want to solve this problem, the only solution is communication."

Zuko turns his head to look at the old man.

"After all, a flower cannot bloom without having understood the spring," he adds, and Zuko throws him a flat stare.

"This doesn't make sense," he murmurs.

The old man frowns a little and strokes his beard in thought. "Hm, I thought it did. What I'm trying to say is that you'll have to tell your father how you feel."

Shaking his head he makes himself even smaller. "That wouldn't work. If you knew him, you'd know."

The man opens his mouth to say something, when suddenly a person jumps down from the roof next to them.

Zuko's heart starts beating faster, and he feels his eyes widen at her sight.

Her long dark hair is, as usual, in the low ponytail, and the brown, white and red striped and patterned costume fits her just as tightly as always. Her pale face with the red swirls on it seems not soft or concentrated, as he is used to see her.

No, she looks worried. Her eyes are wide open, and her mouth forms a little o, as she runs over to them. She kneels down in front of him, and he feels himself warm up.

"Zuko! Are you okay?" she asks, searching his face for something.

Blinking he nods. "Uh, yep. I'm fine."

She leans a bit back. "What were you thinking just running away? Have you got any idea how many people are looking for you?"

He feels surprised, but then he lets his head drop. "I'm... sorry for ruining Christmas for them, but..."

Painted Lady grasps his hands, making him jerk up, as he looks at her.

There is a new frown between her brows, but she looks just as worried as before. "You didn't ruin Christmas for u-... them, but you worried them. They all fear that something happened to you. That you might never be found again!" she explains pointedly.

His eyes widen a bit, and he feels as if his whole body would be gently roasted in an oven. Maybe because of her proximity, or because of her words, he cannot say. "But...," then he frowns and looks off to the side. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to make anyone worry," he murmurs.

She bites on her lower lip, as she stares into his eyes, hers as blue and clear as a mountain river. "It's okay. I'm just happy that you're fine."

Heat crawls into his cheeks at her soft smile, which narrows her eyes a bit, showing wrinkles at the sides. "Really?" he asks.

"Of course!" Standing up she looks around, and seems to freeze when she sees the old man standing there.

She raises a hand to wave, while her other one goes to her neck. "Hello there, Mister... I'm really sorry, but I don't know your name. How could I, since we haven't met before, right? Because I could only know your name, if we knew each other, which we don't, because we haven't met," she rambles, laughing in a high pitched tone.

Zuko raises his eyebrows at her behaviour. This is odd.

The old man smiles warmly at her. "Indeed, we haven't met, Painted Lady. I simply saw this young man out here, and offered some tea and advice. I take it that you will bring him back to his family?"

Tensing up, Zuko latches harder onto his cup of tea. But he doesn't want to go home yet!

Painted Lady offers a toothy smile, nodding affirmatively.

"Wait!" Zuko shouts, holding up a hand.

Both turn their heads to stare at him, as if he had grown a second had.

"Do I have to? Right now? Can't we stay here for a bit longer?" he asks, but it sounds like begging. He cringes inwardly. His father would scold him for sounding so pathetic.

"But, Zuko..." Painted Lady starts.

The old man takes his cup from him, pours new tea into it, and gives it back. "You cannot take him away on a full cup of tea," he says to Painted Lady, as if this would be a well known wisdom.

Painted Lady arches one brow, but holds up her hands in defeat. "Fine. We can wait until you finished your cup of tea." She sits down next to him, and he suddenly feels very aware of her closeness, body and his body.

She shifts a bit, and brushes his hip with her hand, before she has settled into something comfortable.

He quickly turns his head towards her. "I'm sorry if I'm keeping you from your family or... something."

"No!" she yells, whipping her head towards him. "No, I..." She shuts her eyes, and exhales. "I would always leave anything if it meant to spend time, uh, save, no, find you, anyone! I mean, I would do that for anyone!" Her smile is very toothy, as she nods. "Because it's my job, you know."

He nods slowly, understanding what she means. He would do that, too, after all. It is a duty and an honour to serve and help the people of Ba Sing Se, and he, too, would leave anything if it meant to fulfill his destiny.

"And Blue Spirit does that, too. We are always there for the Ba Sing Seans." Her smile seems reassuringly, which makes his heart jump.

Does she really believe in him that way?

Her smile twitches. "Although he didn't answer since I last saw him, so I have no idea where he's looking for you," she sighs and leans forward, resting her elbows on her thighs.

He tenses. Uh-oh. She apparently tried to call him, because she didn't know that he couldn't be transformed, when he was the one being searched.

"Maybeee... he's got himself in trouble or... had to help someone else. Or someone got houhanetised." It's really not easy to find an excuse for himself. It probably would be easier, if her were any good at lying.

She only frowns. "I really hope he has a good explanation."

He feels even worse, now that he can see that she's mad.

"And that he's safe. I know he didn't abandon you." Turning her head she smiles at him. "I'm sure he was looking for you. He's not that kind of person who would not care if a boy disappears."

His cheeks warm up again, and he feels flattered and warm and wooshy inside of him. "Uh, thanks. I mean, yeah, I'm sure he does."

His head jerks, when he hears the old man behind him clearing his throat.

Hiding his hands in his sleeves and smiling he stands there, looking at both of them. "I see you are in good hands here, young man. I will take the freedom and go to celebrate Christmas with my friends."

Zuko hurries taking off the coat and balaclava.

"Oh no. You need it more than me. Please keep it!" the old man asks.

Zuko chuckles. "Believe me, I've got enough coats and caps. Thank you very much for lending it to me, but I've got to insist that you take it back." Standing up he holds out the man's clothes to him.

He only shakes his head. "I would really prefer if you would keep it. Please, it is yours. It looks better on you than on me anyway. I've grown a bit too large for it," he points out good naturedly and rubs his belly.

Although Zuko wants to recline the offer again, he sighs and nods. It would be very impolite not to accept the gift. "Alright. Thank you, uh, could you please tell me your name?" he asks, feeling slightly sheepish and embarrassed, since he hasn't asked before.

"My name is Mushi. It is okay, you do not need to thank me." The man bows, his hands still in his sleeves, and Zuko quickly bows back.

"I'm Zuko!" he suddenly blurts, not knowing why he feels the urge to let the old man know his name. Well, the man isn't actually that old, maybe in his early sixties, but still.

Mushi's smile becomes a bit warmer, and he nods. "I already knew that. You are very well known around the city, after all. Even in the lower ring."

Cringing Zuko quickly looks up. "No, that's not what I meant! I just… I didn't want to simply assume that you… know who I am." With every word he says he actually feels worse.

Tilting his head a bit Mushi seems to look interested in what Zuko just said, but he has no idea why that would be so. "I know you didn't mean it like that. You are very polite. Please, boy, stay how you are." Waving and smiling he turns around and starts walking back the way he came from.

"Thank you!" Zuko calls behind him. "For everything!"

After Mushi had disappeared behind a house, Zuko puts the coat and balaclava back on, for it is very cold without it. He downs the tea in the cup Mushi has left with him, too, and turns around to Painted Lady.

She looks at him in a polite and interested kind of way. "Wow. You really think there are still people in this city who don't know who you are?" she asks, putting one hand on her hip and arching a brow.

Flushing he simply shrugs, and hopes she doesn't notice his red face. "Some people don't like martial arts films."

She rolls her eyes. "It's not only the martial arts, Zuko. You're a really hot actor, uh, great actor! I mean great actor! For a teenager. No, I mean, you're generally great, but it's even more impressing, since you're only a teenager! Hehe…" Biting her lip, she crosses her arms in front of her chest and stares at him.

"Uh, thanks?" he tries. "But, uh, it's not that, really. The role just kind of… fits me, I guess? I don't think I could play something else, since I'm actually not that good at acting in general," he excuses himself, but doesn't know why he does so. Why would he tell her that he's not that good of an actor? Shouldn't he tell her about all the things he's amazing at, and show her that she should totally fall for him?

But she doesn't seem to believe him, as she continues to stare at him, her eyes incredibly wide. "Wow, you're so modest," she whispers, and he feels his heart stopping for one beat.

Spirits, her whisper sounds so intimate, as if she would share a secret with him.

But then she quickly clears her throat, and looking anywhere but him, she gets down to business. "Alright. Then, let's bring you home." Putting up her umbrella she steps closer to him, and holds out her hand.

His stomach does a lot of funny things, when he sees her standing in front of a fountain, snow falling around her, and holding out her hand towards him. It looks like the cover of his dream diary.

Smiling he takes her hand, and steps towards her. As usual her smell lets him think of a spring river, right after the thaw, although he has never smelled such a thing.

When her arms move around his back, he has to swallow, and lean in closer. It's strange that she's shorter than him, when she's the one who seems so wide above him.

"When you hold on to me, it will be easier for me not to let you fall," she says lowly, and heat creeps into his cheeks, again. He's nothing more than a body with a pepper for a head tonight.

"Okay," he says, wrapping an arm around her small frame, and has to fight the urge to either hug her or go rigid from her dangerous proximity. Breathing shallowly he tries to simply enjoy having her so close, while being himself, and not in costume.

"Don't let go," she says, when she holds up her umbrella, and a wind takes them up into the sky.

He only holds on tighter. If she only knew that he would never let her go, for anything.

Twenty minutes later Painted Lady lets them soar down in front of his window. Still clinging onto her, Zuko is not at all enthusiastic to go back into his room. What is he going to tell his father? How will the rest of the holidays be, if he has already done something wrong? By leaving tonight he has probably immensely pissed his father, and ruined his own holidays all in one go.

"And here we are," she says, looking up at him, smiling.

Zuko smiles, thinking about all the times she had already come to his room, mostly because a fan of his had been houhanetised.

"Uh, yeah, that's even my room," he says, transforming again into a tomato.

"Yes, I know. I've been here before."

Looking down at her he sees her frowning.

"Oh, I know you were," he quickly says. "But I thought you might have… I mean, you have so many things to do, people to rescue, I didn't think you'd remember me, let alone where my room is."

She laughs in a high pitched tone, and her grip around him tightens a bit. "Well, I guess I just have a very good memory. And you're a film star, so… You're memorisable. Although I always try to remember everyone I ever saved! Or who was houhanetised."

A twitch of her wrist makes the umbrella change its position slightly, and they soar closer to his window. He reaches out with his arm and opens it. A few months ago he had put a lock on his window from the outside, so that he could easily leave and come back without having to leave the window open.

Soaring closer she allows him to step onto the window sill, after he opened the window.

The moment he's standing there, he quickly turns around, and holds onto the window frame. He wants to look at her, talk to her for, at least, a few minutes before she has to leave again.

"Mi-…, uh, Painted Lady?"

She's still holding onto the umbrella, which makes her soar in front of his window. The wind is playing with her hair, and the snowflakes that are dancing around her make her look like a friendly angelic spirit from another world.

"Yes?" she asks gently.

"Thank you. For everything today. Finding me, sitting there, and, well, yeah, everything." He feels a bit shy around her, but he wants her to know what he's thinking. "You're an amazing person, Painted Lady. And I… I'm very thankful for what you've done so far to save everyone."

"Wow, thanks, you, too. I-I mean, I don't know you, but you seem like you're a great person, so…" She takes a deep breath, and soars a bit closer. "Thanks. And, uhm." She quickly looks off to the side, making him wonder what she could be thinking about. "Will you be okay? I mean, generally, because you, uh… Well, running away is a serious thing to do, and I'd like to be sure that you'll be okay." Her lips are pressed together, and she looks at him questioningly, with wide eyes.

Frowning, he looks down, and decides to step into his room, so he won't look at the street anymore. "Uhm, yes. I'll be okay. It was just…" Now he looks up to look her in the eye. "…the first Christmas without my mother... And my father has his issues with that, too, but… we don't talk about it." He notices his voice becomes deeper, the sadder he seems to be. "It's quite hard."

Painted Lady's mouth stands slightly open and her eyes seem to drop at the sides. "Oh, I… I'm very sorry."

Scratching his hair he shakes his head. "You don't have to be. We'll get past this, and for what's worth… I still have my friends. They… help me a lot." He blinks when he remembers something. "Oh, I still have to unwrap Katara's present," he murmurs, and turns around to look at it lying on his desk.

"That sounds good," Painted Lady says.

Zuko looks back at her to smile. "Yes, it is."

She takes a deep breath. "I've got to go now. I'm going to call Blue Spirit and tell him you're back, and I still have to call your father and all the others…"

Every of her words make him flinch. "No, please, don't. I did this. Let me take care of that. You've already done enough. Please, go home, and have a happy Christmas Eve."

She cocks her head a bit to the side, her smile warming his insides. "Alright. Thank you." She bows to him, before she suddenly starts to soar away.

He quickly bows back, and when he looks up again, she's even further away, soaring high into the sky, dancing with snowflakes.

A sigh escapes him.

"Boy," Buryu says. It must have been hard keeping quiet all this time before. "Stop sighing over her. That's disgusting," he complains and soars off to Zuko's fridge.

He raises an eyebrow. "Since I know what you eat, I'm pretty sure, you have no idea what disgusting means," he says, wrinkling his nose.

When he walks over to his desk, he finds himself smiling at the thought that Katara gifted him something. Not even Sokka did, but they didn't talk about giving each other presents for Christmas. But then again, it's very typical of Katara to think about that. She always cares about everyone around her, and wants everyone to be content and happy.

Zuko is really lucky to have such good friends.

Carefully, he unwraps the package, and finds a wonderfully embroidered belt in it. It is golden, with dragon patterns knitted into it, and white flame embroidery.

"Wow," he whispers. His gaze is pulled to the card, lying there with the belt.

It shows Santa Clause riding a dragon, which carries a sack full of presents. Zuko has to smile.

_Dear Zuko,_

_This is an original Fire Province belt. It is said to have belonged to the ancient princes of the Kasai Empire. Apparently, this belt lastly belonged to a Kasai Emperor named Zuko, which I found pretty fitting. I hope you like it. _

_Merry Christmas! _

_Katara_

oOo

She has to call him five times, before he finally answers. When she hears his voice, she almost growls at him.

"Blue! Where have you been?" Painted Lady snarls into the phone in her folded folding umbrella.

"Hey, Milady. It's also nice to hear your voice."

Hearing the grin in his voice she has to roll her eyes. "Didn't you know about Kasaishi Zuko disappearing?"

"Yep, I heard it." He sounds like he is doing some stretching. "And I went looking for him. Couldn't find him. I take it you did, since you're calling?"

She narrows her eyes at her balcony, sitting on the roof of the neighbour house, waiting to be able to transform back. "Well, no. I mean, yeah, I found him, but I want to know why you didn't answer the phone earlier. I called you like, twenty times? What were you doing?"

"Oh? Sorry, I… lost my phone."

"What?"

"The swords. They just… fell down. I was on a roof. And they fell, and I couldn't find them." He talks in a clipped way, and she doesn't believe every word he says, but she really doesn't want to fight with him now.

"Alright," she sighs. "Just be more careful. I really needed you."

Blue really doesn't let her down, when she hears his next sentence.

"Did it really take you that long to realise it?" He's mocking her again, she clearly hears the grin in this flirty spirit's voice.

Not that she really believes for one second that he's really a spirit.

"Ha, ha, Blue," she replies dryly. "Honestly, I'm glad you just lost your swords, and nothing worse happened."

His breath hitches. "How about you? Are you okay?"

"Yep, I am. I had… a really exciting Christmas Eve so far," she says, chuckling slightly, but sighing. It was good that Mushi had found Zuko. This way she knows that no harm had come to him.

"Yeah, mine was something out of the ordinary, either," he agrees.

Leaning back she can see her family's car arriving down the street, and knows she has to transform back very soon. She'll probably have a hundred messages and missed calls from her family and friends.

"I gotta go, Blue. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Milady."

oOo

Katara was right.

She has got a hundred messages from her classmates, the WhatsApp class chat is overloaded with questions at Zuko, and him reassuring everyone that he's fine.

Suki, Sokka and her dad texted her multiple times, even Ty Lee and Meng asked her for information about Zuko.

But what surprises her most, is that he actually texted her.

Lying on her bed, she stares at the chat for quite a while, only seeing the beginning of his message.

"What are you waiting for?" Chiyu asks, soaring into her visual field, the veil from her hat flowing behind her. Chiyu's brown eyes are wide, as she stares expectantly at Katara.

The human girl makes a face at her and clicks onto Zuko's and hers chat. There are not a lot of messages in it, which always saddens her a bit.

_Hey, I got your present! Thank you very much! The belt is so cool!_

Her grin widens, and she shrieks, while kicking the air with her feet. "Oh, he likes my present, haha! Chiyu, he actually likes it!"

Chiyu raises one eyebrow. "Well, I told you it was a great present. And, are you going to answer him?"

Katara turns a dark red, but nods, as she slowly lets her thumbs touch the screen.

_Hey__. I'm glad you like it._

_Wasn't it very expensive? You shouldn't spend so much money…_

Oh gosh, he answered right away!

_Oh no, it belonged to a friend of mine who gave it to me for very little money._

_Not that I wouldn't pay more to buy a friend a present. _

_Friends deserve very good, hence expensive presents._

Glaring at her thumbs she wonders why the hell she wrote that. What was wrong with her brain?

_Okay. Good. Yeah, I understand that. _

When there's nothing else coming from him, she doesn't know what to answer and chews on her lower lip.

_I'm really lucky to have you as a friend._

Frowning and pouting she shows Chiyu the text, who shrugs, and puts a strand of hair behind her ear. She feels very happy to know that, but on the other hand, it still disappoints her every time she hears him saying she's a "good friend".

_Me, too. _

_To have you, I mean._

Letting her phone fall onto her chest she groans. "Spirits, why is this so difficult? I thought texting would be much easier than talking to him!"

Chiyu chuckles a bit, and nudges Katara's cheek. "It really should be easier, Katara. You're just not yourself, when something's about him."

She shots the tiny spirit a glare, but knows that she's right.

_Merry Christmas, Katara. _

Her lips widen into a smile, and she has to sigh, picturing his face, when he would say those words. His eyes as golden as the Christmas decoration, his skin as white as snow, and his hair as black as the night sky on New Year's Eve, before the fireworks start. Her stomach flutters, and she's filled with warm happiness.

Well, at least, she's somehow important to him. And he's safe and fine.

_Merry Christmas to you, too, Zuko. _

* * *

_So, who found out which series inspired this one shot? _

_I'm actually thinking about making it a multi chaptered fic, so please let me know if there's any interest in this. _

_Hopefully, all of you had a wonderful Christmas, or holidays, or just a good time!:D_


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